All his life Jesus wanted to be identified with the little people of the world. He came from a backwater village of Nazareth. Remember Nathaniel’s crack, ’can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ His father was a carpenter and Jesus probably learned the trade.
During his ministry Jesus rubbed shoulders with people of privilege, he accepted their hospitality. He challenged their lifestyles and their attitudes; their taking the first place at banquets and first seats in the synagogues and making a big show of their donations to the temple. But basically he walked with and shared his wisdom with merchants and fishermen and shepherds, with husbands and wives, the sick and the frightened, the lost and confused.
Close your eyes and image Jesus with those people, the simple folk of the land. He stands among them and opens wide his arms in welcome and says these words; come to me, come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will give you rest.
Come with your anxieties about your health and the health of those you love. Come, stressed out as you are with this isolation and social distancing.
Jesus invites us to yoke ourselves to himself promising that his yoke is easy, his burden light. He compares his yoke to that of the Pharisees, the keepers of the Law. Jesus accused these strict keepers of the law they lay heavy burdens on people and will not lift a finger to lighten the load. His yoke is easy, his burden light. Our only shared burden is to love one another as we’ve been loved.
To be yoked with Jesus is to allow him to our companion on our own personal journey. To be yoked to Jesus is to be willing to be willing to let his will make a difference in what we choose and do.To be yoked to Jesus is to make a difference in the way we treat other people. To be yoked to Jesus is to make a difference in the way we handle conflict in our lives. To be yoked with Jesus is to make a difference in the way we are there for friends and strangers who need our support. To be yoked with Jesus is to make a difference in the way we face our own struggles and weaknesses. To be yoked to Jesus is to make a difference in the way we approach God in prayer.
At this Mass, as we receive the Body of Christ may we be graced to accept Christ’s gracious invitation- take my yoke upon you – then we’ll never walk alone.
This Homily entry was posted on Sunday, July 5th, 2020.
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